Mexico's PRI Rises From 'Death Bed' With Return To Power

Enrique Pena Nieto and his family celebrated Sunday in Mexico City after he claimed victory in the presidential election.

Yuri Cortez
/ AFP/Getty Images

"Mexico's old guard sailed back into power after a 12-year hiatus Sunday," The Associated Press writes, "as the official preliminary vote count handed a victory to Enrique Pena Nieto, whose party was long accused of ruling the country through corruption and patronage."

Or, as Reuters says, "Mexico's old rulers claimed victory in a presidential election on Sunday." And Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which "was ousted in an election 12 years ago and was seen by many as being on its death bed when it finished way back in third place in the 2006 presidential vote," appeared to be back in control.

As NPR's Carrie Kahn reported on Morning Edition, "Pena Nieto appears to have convinced voters that the old PRI — infamous for election rigging, widespread corruption and making deals with drug traffickers — had changed." And now, he has "pledged to continue Mexico's democratic march with honesty, transparency and a full accounting of public funds."

On the war against Mexico's drug cartels, Carrie adds, Pena Nieto has said he will "hire a famous Colombian anti-drug trafficking cop who is popular in Washington D.C. circles and focus more on the violence associated with the narcotics trade than going after cartel bosses."

That six-year-long war against the cartels, says Carrie, "has claimed the lives of more than 50,000 people and weighed heavily on the minds of voters."

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